


Recommendations in Romance

by picturecat



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 14:03:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9444536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/picturecat/pseuds/picturecat
Summary: Tony is a smooth, charismatic guy. Any flirting failures are definitely not his fault.





	

Tony glances up briefly when the bell above the bookstore’s door rings, catching a glimpse of golden blonde hair before the head that it belongs to ducks behind a bookshelf. Then he turns back to the customer he’s directing toward the birdwatching section, fanning himself against the wave of summer heat that came in with the stranger. 

The musty warm smell of old books is overwhelming with the AC out— Tony likes the smell, has to by now. It’s probably ingrained in his lungs at this point. But even with the twelve or so different fans set up in the shop, it doesn’t make up for the temporary loss of a carefully constructed, perfectly maintained air conditioned climate, and Tony would be over at the AC unit trying to fix it right now if the owner hadn’t expressly forbidden him from doing exactly that.

Tony heads over to the YA lit section, crowded in over next to the Christian Fiction section up against a wall, and has just finished shelving new copies of “The Maze Runner” when he catches sight of the blonde stranger blankly eyeing the bright pink Romance shelves, and. Wow. Tony is so going back for seconds.

He’s skinny in the wiry kind of way that makes Tony want to lick him, honestly, with bright blue eyes and full pink lips that don’t at all help Tony suppress that urge. Tony leans on the top of the shelf, cocking his hip a bit in a way that he knows is appealing. “Can I help you find something?” he calls out, his smile just a shade more friendly than it needs to be.

And that, of course, is when all the books on the top shelf from “Divergent” to “Breaking Dawn” topple over in a frankly slapstick sequence of events, leaving only “Seeing Redd” standing at the exact opposite end of the shelf. It wobbles for a second, and then holds steady.

Well. There goes Tony’s flirtatious overture.

“We have a poltergeist,” Tony says smoothly, stifling the blush at the back of his neck with the ease of practice. “Its timing for mischief is astonishing, honestly.” Tony straightens up carefully, trying not to give the books sprawled out across the top shelf any more excuse to move around. For a second, all is well— and then “Seeing Redd” topples backwards off the shelf.

“I think I see what you mean,” the blonde stranger says, quirking an amused little smile. He steps over to the mess, picking up the books scattered on the floor while Tony straightens the displays on the top shelf. 

“I’m Tony, by the way,” Tony says, taking the books back from the stranger. “The poltergeist is called Gred, but it answers to ‘asshole’ and ‘dummy’ too.”

“I’m Steve,” the stranger— Steve— says, snorting a little laugh. “It’s nice to meet you both.”

“Was there anything I could help you with?” Tony offers again.

“Well, actually,” Steve says, and there’s something sweet in his smile, and something shy in the way his eyelashes shade the coy glance that he is absolutely aiming at Tony, yes, score. “I was hoping you might have some LBGT romance novels.”

Tony doesn’t bother hiding his grin. “I’m sure I can find something to your tastes.“

**Author's Note:**

> I'm crossposting a bunch of my stories from tumblr, so you may have seen this before.


End file.
